New England April 2018

Welcome to April! Things are popping up everywhere and the bunnies are taking them down as fast as they pop up. 
:/
I've been remiss about planting my seeds and am now further behind than I have ever been. My SFG has not been cleaned up and put back together yet from all the storm damage & debris, but I'm getting there. Once I get all the raked up piles bagged up and taken to the dump I can start thinking about veggie gardening again. Better get out there now before the rain comes!

How's everyone else doing?

CC, just a question. Can you compost some of that debris in a slow, a la natural way?

sanderson wrote:CC, just a question.  Can you compost some of that debris in a slow, a la natural way?  

My exact thoughts when she said she was going to haul some debris away.  Pile it up out of the way and just let it decay over a year or so.  That is assuming you have room in your yard for a large stack of debris.  Or assuming it won't spoil the looks of your yard.

The debris is all pine needles, cones and branches.  Ended up with 21 black bags altogether.  I don't want that in my compost pile and, can't remember why, but I don't even want to compost it separately.  

Rainy and cold here today.  I actually put MM in a bunch of 6-pk cntrs for greens, & a 50pc 1" starting cntr for lettuce, but didn't get any further than that.    Maybe tonight I'll go thru my seeds and maybe tomorrow I'll plant them.

I am so behind here, you guys...it has been just brutally cold for spring.

I got half a flat of cells started for lettuces.  But we have serious rain on the way...grrr!

I also had 30 strawberry plants, 2 hardy fig trees, 2 grape vines and 2 rhubarbs delivered today...yowza!

FINALLY got my seeds started in doors. I'm doing something different this year since I'm so far behind. Usually I can put 6 six-packs of seeds on my heating pad, wait for sprouting, take them off and put them into the window and start the next 6 six-packs for the heating pad. But this time I planted EVERYthing and brought out the old electric blanket so everything can be on heat at the same time. I'll let you know what happens.

Sowed and put on the heat today:
kale, 3 varieties
collards, 3 varieties
turnip greens
lettuce, 6 varieties
pak choy, 2 varieties
swiss chard, 3 varieties
tomatoes, 5 varieties
pepperoncinos
For leaves only - cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi

zinnias - 5 varieties

Outside I sowed:
Beets - 3 varieties
Sugar Snap peas

Woops...forgot to toss the mustard spinach, radishes, musclun and spinach outside. Can the Malabar go out yet or should I wait for warmer weather?

CapeCoddess wrote:FINALLY got my seeds started in doors.  I'm doing something different this year since I'm so far behind.  Usually I can put 6 six-packs of seeds on my heating pad, wait for sprouting, take them off and put them into the window and start the next 6 six-packs for the heating pad.  But this time I planted EVERYthing and brought out the old electric blanket so everything can be on heat at the same time.  I'll let you know what happens.

Sowed and put on the heat today:
kale, 3 varieties
collards, 3 varieties
turnip greens
lettuce, 6 varieties
pak choy, 2 varieties
swiss chard, 3 varieties
tomatoes, 5 varieties
pepperoncinos
For leaves only - cauliflower, broccoli, kohlrabi

zinnias - 5 varieties

Outside I sowed:
Beets - 3 varieties
Sugar Snap peas

Woops...forgot to toss the mustard spinach, radishes, musclun and  spinach outside.  Can the Malabar go out yet or should I wait for warmer weather?

You have been busy CC.  I can't put anything outside except for Winter Sowing. My MM is frozen solid again.

Now CC I have some news for you. I think last year you asked me for the name of the the everbearing strawberries that I am growing in my SFG. Today I found the information from the packing they came in. They are Fort Laramie Everbearing Strawberries and came as a packet of 10. The name on the front of the packet label is "Windmill" and it says zone 3. On the back it says Product of USA and then Grown By Pan American Nursery Products, Surrey, BC and Millgrove, ON and printed in the USA. A very strange combination of USA and Canada.

Thank you thank you thank you, TD! Excellent info! And good memory, btw.
Wonder if that's zone 3 and up or just zone 3? Does it say?

CapeCoddess wrote:Thank you thank you thank you, TD!  Excellent info!  And good memory, btw.
Wonder if that's zone 3 and up or just zone 3?  Does it say?

Does not say.  I expect zone 3 is the coldest zone they survive in.

We are still in lockdown hatches battened down and waiting for the ice/snow/sleet/freezing rain/whatever else storm is done this weekend. The last storm of the fall right before winter took out my greenhouse so will be taking that apart and repairing it. Started SFG with one box last year and tried a contraption for potatoes this year I will be adding a barrel for strawberries and fingers crossed three more raised beds 4X4. It's going to be a busy spring if it ever gets here. 

CL

Hi CL!  Welcome!

I'm lucky here on the Cape.  Even though we don't get as warm,  we thaw out sooner and freeze up later than off Cape.  Your time will come.  This IS a strange spring tho, all around.

My potatoes were planted in 2 to 4 end sqs the 2 times I grew them.  They grew quite tall - up to 2 feet - and bushy, so plant them down the middle of the sqs. I never did very well with them.  They were quite small.  Hopefully someone with better luck will chime in.

Do you have any photos of you veggies to share with us?  
CC
PS you dog is gorgeous!  I want to hug her/him!!!

These are the clampacks (minus one) on the heating pad and experimental electric blanket: 
One sprouted already and is now in the window!
lettuce anyone?!

CC, Where is Miss Lily?

CL, Had to post this photo of my "granddaughter", Inara, goddess of wild animals.  

sanderson wrote:CC,  Where is Miss Lily?

 Probably on the back of the sofa in the living room. Window is pretty cold when there's no sun.  No worries. 

Inara is gorgeous!

More kale, collards, lettuce and some other things have sprouted and are in the window now.  Seems the electric blanket works as well as the heating pad.

Okay, on the back of the sofa. She is such a lovely cat.

Well, as soon as I took the rest of the sprouted seeds off the electric blanket, look who took over:


At least this year she didn't push all the clampacks on to the floor before they were sprouted, like she's done in past years.

CapeCoddess wrote:Well, as soon as I took the rest of the sprouted seeds off the electric blanket, look who took over:


At least this year she didn't push all the clampacks on to the floor before they were sprouted, like she's done in past years.

CATS RULE!

CapeCoddess wrote:Hi CL!  Welcome!

I'm lucky here on the Cape.  Even though we don't get as warm,  we thaw out sooner and freeze up later than off Cape.  Your time will come.  This IS a strange spring tho, all around.

My potatoes were planted in 2 to 4 end sqs the 2 times I grew them.  They grew quite tall - up to 2 feet - and bushy, so plant them down the middle of the sqs. I never did very well with them.  They were quite small.  Hopefully someone with better luck will chime in.

Do you have any photos of you veggies to share with us?  
CC
PS you dog is gorgeous!  I want to hug her/him!!!

Thank you Luna is my partner in crime and my heart dog. Best planting buddy ever. 

I don't have pictures of my veggies for this year currently taking apart and rebuilding my greenhouse which was flattened by the weather. This year I am thinking we will be buying prestarted but next year once my greenhouse is back up and running we should have starters around now. My raised bed last year was very small just starting to change over to SFG I started with one 4X4 box and a 2X2 potato bed that you build up as the potatoes grow. The potatoes didn't do very well last year so wondering what I did wrong. 

This is not mine but a picture of what mine looked like you add more height to the sides and then keep covering the plants until they are around 3 or 4 feet high then start by taking off the bottom boards and collecting the potatoes and moving up from there. 

My 4X4 did well but I need to try something different because my tomatoes overtook my whole bed so I need a better idea for keeping them in check. 

I look forward to reading about all your gardens hoping I will get good ideas to try for mine too. 

CL

CL, I wanted to make sure you saw this site for canine gardening buddies: https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t19899p150-pets-garden-doggies

The worst April since 2007! Record low maximum temps on April 15, 2018!

Lot's going on on Old Cape Cod...

Repaired and new SFG - the boxes are now in working order & composted, and seed sowing has begun: 

These were sowed outside on 4/18/18 and covered with window screens:

Baby kale from last years plants are giving me smoothie greens!  

I thought this was pretty cool - last year I put a cover on this window well, next to my kitchen garden, and it's acting like a green house...

Besides onions, there's beautiful lush oregano growing in there!  YUM!

Meanwhile, inside, the pepperoncino's were the last to spout (6 days) and came up this morning so all the babies are now off the heating pad & electric blanket and in the window:


Hi RJ!

CapeCoddess wrote:Lot's going on on Old Cape Cod...

Repaired and new SFG - the boxes are now in working order and seed sowing has begun: 

These were sowed outside on 4/18/18 and covered with window screens:

Baby kale from last years plants are giving me smoothie greens!  

I thought this was pretty cool - last year I put a cover on this window well, next to my kitchen garden, and it's acting like a green house...

Besides onions, there's beautiful lush oregano growing in there!  YUM!

Meanwhile, inside, the pepperoncino's were the last to spout (6 days) and came up this morning so all the babies are now in the window:


Hi RJ!

Fantastic CC. 

+1

I didn't put plant labels on my starts when I seeded them, just took photos. Now I need to make labels but can't find where I off loaded the photos to.

Are we having fun yet???